Jeff Bridges, ‘Jeff Bridges’ (Blue Note/EMI)

It’s wholly understandable that most people would dismiss Jeff Bridges as an actor on a misguided vanity trip (lookin’ at you, Paltrow), writing a clutch of songs on his sophomore release and enlisting a brainy cast (guitarist Marc Ribot and producer T Bone Burnett, who was also musical supervisor for, yes, The Big Lebowski). Bridges’ country-fried drawl gets wonky (see the shuffling “Blue Car”), but when the pieces come together — as on laid-back, folksy charmers like “Everything but Love” and “Maybe I Missed the Point” — the result is as comfortable and unpretentious as the Dude’s bathrobe.

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